THE PUSEYITE MASK THROWN off.

WE avail ourselves of two or three newspaper paragraphs to acquaint our readers with a circumstance that has occurred since the publication of our last, though we doubt not most of them are already aware of the fact. We allude to the Rev. Mr. Sibthorp's open espousals of Popery; we think the term CONVERSION (as the newspapers have it) does not apply. It is when a man first drinks into the spirit and opinions of Dr. Pusey, that he is converted to the Roman Catholic faith; then he turns a Catholic at heart, though he has not honesty enough to acknowledge it. And how any man, calling himself a man—a man of principle-a man of honour-a man that is not ashamed of his professions, can espouse the doctrines of PUSEY, and yet call himself the friend of Protestantism, is what we cannot comprehend. We call it barefaced impudence, and a total want of principle; and we say, that the sooner the Church of England can rid herself of such vile hypocrites the better. But, alas! alas! their numbers multiply to an almost incalculable extent. One clergyman of high integrity gives it as his opinion, that above half the Church has become Puseyite; another informs us, that above five hundred Puseyite clergymen and four bishops, of the same mistaken way of thinking, were present at a recent consecration. What an awful state of things! A mutual source of triumph to the mystic harlot and her treacherous progenitor, the angel of the bottomless pit!

Rather than censure, we consider such conduct as Mr. Sibthorp's to be applauded. He is the most honest of the whole; and we should hope that others will now resolve to throw off their false garb, and no longer justly entitle themselves to the character of wolves in sheep's clothing. 'Tis mean-pitiful in the extreme! We have a far higher opinion of a Roman Catholic who is not ashamed to acknowledge what he is, than of such men as profess to be what they are not! Puseyites merely continue in the Church of England for the sake of her emoluments, and the hope of winning her over to the embraces of the Babylonish whore! Strong language we admit, still it is the language of Scripture. The subject is too momentous, it has been trifled with too long, to warrant farther parleying; besides, our time is short. We are greatly mistaken if all such publications as ours are not, ere long, silenced; while the true worshippers of the Lord God of Sabaoth retire to mourn in sackcloth and in ashes! Things are rapidly arriving at a climax ; the night, in our opinion, is fast closing in upon us, and soon we shall grope, as blind men for the wall, in a darkness that may be felt outwardly, though not, perhaps, in the souls of those whose eyes God has in mercy opened to see things as they are. We should not be surprised if they are strengthened and encouraged in the midnight darkness, in the prospect of the speedy break of the glorious-the auspicious day that shall follow.

CONVERSION.

The papers announce that one of the most active exhibitors in the new school of religion, has turned Papist outright, and is even about to take orders from Rome. We wish that the whole set of the Illuminati, the holy candle-snuffers, and surpliced posture-masters, would follow his example. We are also told that some half-dozen of individuals, in still more responsible positions, feel the "movement” within them, and are about to crave the benediction of the Old Lady of Rome. So much the better, we say. If such sheep are in the flock, the sooner they are under the Papist crook, the better for the Church that gets rid of them.

But, with whatever mixture of pity for the wretched blindness of these poor creatures, or scorn for their love of fetters and falsehoods, we must ask, is it not time for the heads of the Church to examine into these matters, give full evidence of their own opinion on the subject, and prove that the Articles and Canons are not waste paper? We understand that the new convert is to be made a cardinal, by the title of Caput Vituli and Bishop of St. Luke's. The thing will go on. Bedlam is wide, and Rome is bountiful.-Britannia.

MR. SIBTHORP'S CONVERSION TO THE CHURCH OF ROME. The Rev. R. W. Sibthorp, one of the fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford, and minister of St. James's Chapel, Ryde, has quitted the Church of England to seek for new ordination in the Papal communion. Those who have been aware of the symptoms which have recently manifested themselves in St. James's Chapel-the bowings, crossings, using several different parts of the church to read the service from, and, it is said, even the introduction of incense-will not be much surprised at this melancholy close of the whole course of mental aberration: melancholy, we mean, for the unhappy man himself. For the Church, we regard the separation as an event rather fortunate than otherwise. And we hope-we earnestly hope-that this secession will prove but the first of several. Happy, indeed, would it be for the cause of truth and religion, if the present year were to witness some imitators of Mr. Sibthorp. The danger, the real danger, under which the Church now suffers, is not that of losing the services of men of Mr. Sibthorp's mind, but of retaining them. Let us find all Romanists at heart under their own proper banner, and we shall know where and how to meet them. It is when they hide themselves among our own men that they excite a real and well-founded alarm. We are well aware that the number of those who, in the main, agree with Mr. Sibthorp, although small, is greater than could be wished. Were the error confined to but one or two individuals, it would not have excited the admonitions, within the last few months, of the various prelates who have made the topic a prominent one in their charges; among whom we remember the Bishops of Ripon, Durham, Chester, Gloucester, Winchester, and Exeter. Nor has Mr. Sibthorp been at all the foremost in the mischief. His precedence in the final step is probably owing to the greater honesty and straightforwardness of his character. We trust, however, that those who secretly think with him, will quickly evince the manliness to act with him also. Their own language, in their quarterly organ, is, "It is impossible to stop where we are." With honest men it ought to be impossible. The equivocations, however, of "No. 90," do not look like the workings of an honest mind. The event will shortly show whether we do its author an injustice.— Standard.

The "Hampshire Advertiser " gives the following account of the Rev. W. Sibthorp's conversion to the Roman Catholic Church :

"The Rev. W. Sibthorp, who is to be ordained a Catholic priest at Birmingham, next Thursday, was lately minister of St. James's Church, Ryde, Isle of Wight, his interest in which place of worship he has disposed of to the Rev. A. Hewett. The adoption by Mr. Sibthorp of the Popish faith has created less surprise than regret. Originally lecturer of St. John's, Bedford Row, and a very eloquent and able man, he entered avowedly into politics at Ryde, and presented the anomalous picture of a Radical clergyman. Convinced of this error, he has fallen into the contrary extreme, and has long been evidently verging to the extreme limits of the Anglo-Catholic Church, so that even his (Oxford) friends have been long in fear for him. Sibthorp's motives no one can impeach, or otherwise than respect. His private

Mr.

fortune it has been his habit to expend in works of charity and benevolence; and, by his present act, he forfeits, not only his fellowship at Magdalen, Oxford, but also the living of Selborne, Hants, which has just devolved on him in virtue of the fellowship."

Since our foregoing remarks were penned, we have received a letter from a private individual, a part of which we transcribe.

Is it not a solemn day in which we live? The sad fact of Mr. Sibthorp, of Ryde, going over to the Papal Church; a man whom we thought one of the excellent of the earth at the time he was called to preach the funeral sermon for Mrs. Wilson, the Bishop of Winchester's sister to think that he should now be exulting in the fact of having joined the Church of Rome at Birmingham, which he says was no hasty step; for it appears that, so long as eight years ago, he went to Rome and had converse with the Pope. And there is no doubt of the fact that it was his aim to have won over his congregation to Popery, by degrees, and this accomplished, he would have made the chapel (which was his own) a Papal chapel ; but in this he has failed. Some persons say he cannot be in his senses. His conduct has caused a very great sensation in Ryde. It is a very blessed fact that the church has fallen, by purchase, into the hands of so excellent a man as the Rev. Augustus Hewett (whom you once accidentally met, while travelling). Mr. Sibthorp, speaking of the progress of Popery, says that the church at Birmingham, which he has joined, has no less than three thousand communicants at the table. And I am sorry to say that many Dissenters seem to rejoice in this affair; they say the Church of England is fast going over to Rome, and that there is no fear of Popery increasing but in the Church of England! And here I would ask, what are Dissenters doing to prevent its increase? why, you may say nothing. They, by their actions, under what is falsely called charity, are sanctioning its increase; and are thereby bartering away their present privileges-such privileges as were never enjoyed before in any age. This they will see when it is too late. Did they see things as they really are, they would arise in a body, and, as with the heart of one man, would make every effort to stop the progress of this their dreadful enemy.

May you and I be kept faithful unto death, and, if called upon, go cheerfully to the stake; for it is by no means improbable that such may be the case, for Popery is the same now as it was in Bloody Queen Mary's reign; it only pants for the power. The Roman Catholics owe us a dreadful grudge.

The supineness of the great mass of Dissenters, in reference to Popery, is to us a great source of lamentation, as well as to our correspondent. The passing of the Roman Catholic Relief Bill, under a mistaken charity, was affixing their signature, as it were, to their own death warrant. It was the maiden left in charge of the house, opening the door to admit the fox. It was the husbandman taking home the adder and nursing it in his bosom. It was the schoolboy making a rod for his own back. All at present is comparatively smooth and pleasant. Mighty achievements, in popular estimation, have been accomplished; but wait yet a little, and we shall discover that by high-church bigotry (under the name of Puseyism) in the Church, and a mistaken charity, and an envious spirit that will have its ends, be the consequences what they may, out of the Church of England; Popery shall, by little and little, increase its power; and ere long the fox will show that he has possession; the adder shall turn and infuse its venom into the very heart of its benefactor; and the schoolboy shall be beaten with the rod of his own making.

THE EDITOR.

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THE BURDEN AND CRY OF A CHRISTIAN.

THE season of depression of spirits arising from an inward sense of our own depravity, is the time when we are found in the vale of humiliation, and the work of subduing pride is successfully carried on in the soul.

Truly, when a sight within is afforded, do we see the corruption of our nature, our deformity through sin, the secret passion of the soul, the latent deceitfulness of the heart, the evil propensity of our desires, and the desperate wickedness of our thoughts; then indeed do we loathe ourselves on account of sin, and, with a perfect hatred, hate the world, ourselves, and all below the sun; seeing all on earth is vanity and grievous vexation of spirit; and all within is dead men's bones, a very charnel-house of putrefaction, a lazaretto of pride, a pest-house of all that is impure. However much the supposed dignity of human nature may exult, or proud free-will infuse high notions of excellence in the rational creature, we have still a vile body of sin, misery, and woe, with the sentence of death pronounced against it.

But let it ever be remembered nothing but a spark of grace from off the altar of God's love can set fallen nature at variance with itself, or stir up a war in the soul, by the conflict between spirit and flesh. God's arm of mercy extended, opens our eyes of faith to discern that nothing availeth in his sight, save a new creature in Christ; thus all beauty we behold in our spotless Lord, all deformity in the sin-stained souls of ourselves.

It is an act of sovereign mercy that beholds, of discriminating grace that extends, and of especial favour that reveals, the Father's purpose to his people; it is an act of eternal love on the part of Jehovah the Son that moves him to make intercession on their behalf; and to complete salvation's dateless plan, the Holy Ghost applies his sovereign power to purify the heart, and sanctify the soul.

All is viewed by the believer in Jesus as planned in heaven by the immutable counsels of a Triune God; hence our trials, temptations, and afflictions, are all numbered in the covenant of grace.

Sin would not distress the soul, did not God first give the soul to see it had sinned; and, seeing it is that abominable thing which God has revealed he hates, his life in the soul gives its possessor to see also, that he must hate it too. Thus the Christian has woes within the world! knows nothing of; it is his daily concern that he carries about with him a body of sin and death; that he lives in a carnal and ungodly world; in the midst of which he finds is placed his soul. He is, while here below, existing in the impurity of inherent depravity; he feels his heart to be a volcano of ever-rising corruptions; his thoughts are deceitful above all things; his desires are desperately wicked; the very air he breathes is contaminated with the effluvia of evil; his very neighbours are avowed enemies to God; his country is a cage of unclean birds; he dwells in a land of darkness, delusion, and devils; but himself! what is fallen man, if but left to himself? When God in mercy afflicts his soul, withdraws his arm of consolation, and hides his presence from the view of faith; then truly does darkness becloud all

temporal blessings, while deadness denies him enjoyment on spiritual things. He rises in the morning, and retires at night, overwhelmed as it were in a deluge of distress; his way is hedged up and his path is all covered with thorns; his friends are as if they had fled, and his foes increase on every hand; he groans being burdened, and cries for a release from his woes, but there is none to hear; his soul is in heaviness and exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death; his Father in heaven seems to frown upon him, and he cries in bitter anguish aloud, "Where is now

my God? that God who has promised never to leave nor forsake ? Alas, I am vile! Sin has separated me from my Saviour. Woe is me, for I am undone; I am a man of unclean lips, impure thoughts, and unholy desires. I am born in sin and shapen in iniquity; my pretended righteousness is filthy rags; I do that which is evil, and that continually; I am a worm and no man, and living without God in the world. O! that I were as in days that are past, when the candle of the Lord shone upon my head, and by whose light I once walked through darkness, but now I am left to myself; the presence of Jesus, sweet Jesus, is gone. I have lost my way in this desert of woe, and mingled in the mass of carnal and ungodly men ; I have hewed out to myself a broken cistern that can hold no water; flown to the follies of time and sense; left my first love in the Lord Jesus Christ; and sought for solace where there is nothing but sorrow. Miserable comforters are ye all; away, and make room for my Lord." At this hopeless extremity he gets one glimpse of but the hem of Christ's garment, which for the moment is visible between the clouds of sorrow and despair; when the glow of Godly love in his breast constrains him to cry out, as did Thomas, My Lord and my God." But the next is followed by gloom and darkness, even worse than before; there are yet mountains of rebellious pride in the heart to be removed, and God's plan of removal is always the best; who not willingly, but in mercy, afflicts the soul.

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Here again the burdened Christian is driven, as it were, to fly his very self, and he cries, like Jeremiah, with renewed acclamations," I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of God's wrath, and justly felt its power. On me is his indignation poured forth, but I merit his reproof. Justice, stay thine hand; and, Mercy, arise for my help; I am well nigh brought unto death, my sins and my sorrows are enough to slay my very soul."

Here sensitive oppression sounds the whisper of prayer; and the language of a tried believer is spoken with the breath of faith, hope, and love in the Lord Jesus Christ, who speaks the same over again. O! my righteous Father in heaven, stretch forth thy gracious arm, rescue and raise me out of this horrible pit and miry clay. How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow daily in my heart? how long, O Lord! how many are the days of my trouble? When wilt thou come and release my burdened spirit from this tabernacle of flesh, and from the world's boisterous sea of sorrow and sins, bring me safe into heaven's harbour of peace and repose? Come, Lord Jesus, quickly